I've found a lot of good info on this site so far, but much of it is geared toward the 720 and 730 and is spread all over the place. Hopefully this thread will become a one stop shop for the 740. I'm posting excerpts of what i have confirmed works on the 740, as well as links to other good info that may be useful.

So first off, unlocking the unit, courtesy of ideefixe:

quote:Before you attempt to unlock or customize, you should make a backup copy of your SD card. Better yet, copy the content to another 1GB or 2GB SD card and use the copy instead.

Unlocking

On the root of the SD card, there is a file call addons.txtEdit it and add an extra line to bring up WinCE desktop and explorer:

Now insert the SD card into the GPS, you should notice an extra Explorer icon appearing on the menu. Touch it the first time to bring up the WinCE desktop. Touch the icon again to bring up the file explorer. It's that easy.

There is no need to replace the menu shell. You can add additional icons by adding additional lines to the addons.txt file. The file \\My Flash Disk\Launcher\data.zip contains the bitmaps that you can use for the menu buttons. These are the defaults available:

quote:Add Windows SolitareThis is an easy hack and will work with the iGo shell and the Windows shell. Since the 720 or 30 does not come with all of the Windows CE files, we have to get them from somewhere. Microsoft freely distributes a platform builder for Windows CE .net 5, the core software for the 720/730. Using this builder, I got the files needed to add features to the 720. To get Windows Solitare, download here:addsol.zipExtract the contents, plug in your 720/30 to the PC, and copy the two files to your 720 or 30's TFAT drive. Unplug, and using explorer on your 720, copy the two files into your "Windows" folder. You can put them anywhere, as long as they are together.

To use in Windows, hold your finger or a small blunt object down on the file "solitare.exe" and a circle will draw up. Then a menu will appear. In the menu, click on "Copy". Then double tap into "Programs" (this should be //windows/programs). Hold down again on a blank area like you did before to get the circle menu. In the menu, click on "Paste Shortcut". You can usually rename the shortcut to what you want. In Windows when you click on Start and Programs, you will now see Solitare and Windows Explorer.

To use in the iGo shell, add this line to your IGOPATH.TXT file under the [GAMES] section (see first post on how to do that).

Last is Stan Matofu's AMAZING skin, which fixed just about all the gripes I had with this thing, including displaying current time, speed, and street, as well as adding quick buttons to the history and suspend. Lots of good details, including some code examples and programming specifics in the thread: http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=103774&whichpage=5

Just replace the data.zip file, after backing up the original of course.

Still to do:Make a registry backup to easily restore changes after a reset.

Also need to find a fix to get the start bar to appear again. Edencrest has a solution for the 730 but I can't find taskbar.exe or ITaskMgr.exe so I haven't tried it yet, but here's what he did:

quote:I've found the way to get to the "taskbar" after the 1st load. The 1st time you load "explorer" it takes you to the CE Taskbar/desktop. Subsequent requests just take you to "Explorer". This entry allows you to access the "Taskbar" from the main menu. You will need to load some of the previous upgrades mentioned in this feed.

Tested on Nav740 only… Should work on 720’s as well…New Features:Tilt UP/DOWNRoute Del and Next Via Skip PopupSave Address Button2D Follow Mode Fix (happened every time I returned back to the Navigate screen)Push Button New Route Method & Auto Calculation.

Skin Button Info:I will not go into detail on most things as the picture should illustrate the functions; however, there are a couple things to point out. (1) The Save Address button that is located on the Route Info page will save an address after you locate it. VERY IMPORTANT – If you hit anywhere on the map after finding an address, that new point will be saved instead of the address you want. To correct this, before saving, you will need to go into History and reselect the location again, then save. ALWAYS VERIFY THE ADDRESS BEFORE HITTING SAVE… Also, the address that is put into favorites can sometimes be a couple of numbers off from the address you searched for. This is an issue with the mapping software and really nothing can be done about it for now. When you name your new address, I suggest putting the correct house or location number in the name.

(2) On the Route Info page, you can change the Route Method by selecting the square around the current method. I omitted the EASY button as I could not see the value. I can always add it back in if the general opinion is that it should be there.

To load this skin, simply add the new Data.zip file to the SD card in the IGO DIR. It is very important to do this only on the SD card and not the internal memory.

I have confirmed that the instuctions below do work. sorry no crediet is given to the original poster. I believe it was in a nav 730 thread. I had copied the instructions into a text file so this is all I have.

Step 1. Exit the Navigation Program so your now in the main menu. Plug your gps into the comp. Locate and open the addons.txt file. Modify it so it has the (Explorer = iconsfiles.bmp, WindowsExplorer.exe) line. It then should look like this.code

Step 3. Do a Hard Turn off on your Gps(use the little switch), not a soft off

Step 4. Unplug your gps from the comp. Turn it on. Click the explorer icon. Windows CE Should pop up. Click Start then navigate to Programs Click Windows Explorer. This should open a new window. Now double tap Storage Card. Run the file C310Auto.exe(screen should flicker black twice then take you to the main menu)

Step 5. You should now see the normal v7 Menu. Click Explorer Again. Now click Start then go to Favorites Click TaskMgr

Step 6. In TaskMgr Click Task then close the NNGLauncher Task.Now the V7 Startup program should be gone.

You now have many special programs on the GPS to use. To open the navigation again double click Navigation on the desktop.

I have also located the reg key that loads the NNGLauncher program on startup. But the edited reg key gets deleted everytime I do a hard reset. Im trying to find a way to save all data and programs to the internal flash drive, so when we do a hard reset the data remains. I will come out with a later release with some games and new features!

**************Now if someone can give detailed instructions on how to load other navigation software onto the device that would be great. I can not find the files or complete instructions anywhere.

ALSO, I have found another picture viewer that provides different functionality than the one provided by V7. It will let you see full size picures and let you create a slideshow. This picture viewer is located in the download but its not listed in the programs, but it is an easy fix.

once you run have followed the instructions in my earlier post, go to \Storage Card\ProgramsApps\fileviewers and copy a link of imageviewr.exe over to \window\Programs There is also an alternate PDF viewer available but I have not checked that out.

Now I just need to find an alternate media player, One that would let me play MP3s while the GPS software is running, As far as I can tell, the main problem is that the V7 media player does not let you minimize so you can run the gps at the same time.

I was playing with the files from the nav20 and nav700 trying to get the canadian maps to work I gave up, but I found out that the other V7 GPS devices came with games that ours do not come with. A lot trial and error helped me figure out how to run the games.

It turned out to be quite simple to run the games on you nav740 (730 Should work too)Download the software files for the 720 or the 730 from v7support.com and unzip the files, And transfer the Games folder to the root your SD card. Do not copy the other files as they are not needed and will cause problems with your nav740.

I am Still looking for an alternate media player that will play while navigating, Im also still looking for alternate GPS software that will run an a v7 If you know how to do this please post instructions. Also still trying to find how to load maps from Canada. HELP

I am working on getting the internet to work with mioPocket wifi drivers and I'm trying to get the reboot issues taken care of, I've looked over the system files and haven't been able to find what is calling NNGLauncher.exe (removing the application causes the GPS to throw an error) - the application you see when you first start up the GPS. I also am trying to find out where it modifies the internal flash memory. I think I am pretty close to figuring this out, I wish I could find some USB drivers for windows ce 5, if anyone knows of any, I would love to hear about it. Thanks.

I was able to get explorer to show up on the nnglauncher even after a hard restart and without an SD card in. Simply modify the igopath.txt found in the "my flash disk" drive instead of the addons.txt on the Storage card. it should look like:

I have not been able to get many of the applications to work in the miopocket Especially when trying to run them from the miopocket menue, seems the path is not correct. Some will run from the program folder that wont run from the skin.

I dont mind the native menue so I just added some of the working programs to my menu, but it quickly became cluttered,to solve this I have been able to create new modules (groups of programs) on native nav740 interface then put some applications in the module. You will need to modify the addons.txt file on your storage card, you may want to modify igopath.txt in your flash drive. Let me give an example. on the storage card Under [Modules] add the line

[modules] Utils = "icons/align.bmp", "Utilities", 0

You have now created a new "module" for Utils

"Utils" This is the name you wan to give the module "icons/align.bmp" Choose an Icon to use from the icon folder or upload your own."Utilities" Not sure what this does, But you can leave it blank and just put "" with nothing in the quotes0 Again, not sure what this does, but I tried using 2 since I thought that 0 and 1 where already taken by games and settings, but that caused problems. All I know is that 0 works. so use 0 for all modules

Ok, now that your module is set up, all you have to do is create a module header and put some programs under it.

create the line

[Utils] (or whatever you named your module)(This is the module header)

syntaxThis is the name you want the program to show up as = "put the Icon/ path here", "\\path of the exe\\here.exe"

Now some simple rules1 If you modify the igopath.txt with a new module, that module will appear whether or not you have the SD card in2 if you modify the igopath.txt with a new module make sure that when you specify which programs you run in that module you only put in applications that are available without the sd card3 You can add a programs only available on the SD card to a module you created in igopath.txt addons.txt, just put it under the the same module header in addons.txt4 both programs specified in the addons.txt and the ones specified in igopath.txt will show up when the sd card in inserted, so you only have to specify the program in one of the files.5 Only create a module in igopath.txt If you don't mind it excluding the programs in that module on igopath.txt or if you are creating a new module that won't exist when the sd card is not inserted.

Nothing explains this better than some examples. Here is my igopath.txt

Note: I did not have to specify nav-player in the Multi-media module on the addons.txt file because it was already specified in igopath.txt.

Note: I created the games Module on the addons.txt file because the games are only available with the sd card

Note: I was able to add ce-player to the Multi-media module that was created in the igopath.txt

I want to put all the working miopocket programs in the nnglauncher and group them simplicity. I wont have time to do this for a few weeks, so if anyone else can do this and post it here that would save us all a lot of work.

anyone able to get alternate navigating software on here please post instructions.

Also, some of the applications from Miopocket won't work until you run gapisetup.exe and Select emulator mode. That seems to help, some some reason gapi wont recongise the nav740 as a c320. this can be fixed for 10 Euro. Look at the middle of this page http://wincesoft.de/html/gapi_for_hpc_s.html

If some one can pay the 10 Euro and then upload the fix to a fileserver, that would be swell.

so if you are editing the Menu per my instrucions you may not know what bmp files are available, also, you may want to add your own to give more icons to chose from. You must have active sync enabled. Follow these instruction exactly or you may have problems adding icons. go to "my flash disk\launcher\" copy the data.zip folder to your desktop now you can add or replace bmps here. I leave the folder zipped and just place new bmps in the zipped folder that are 75X75 pixels. You must change the name of the original data.zip file in your launcher folder. then copy the data.zip folder from your desktop to your launcher folder. Unplug the nav from your pc and verify that everything still works. now from explorer from within the GPS you can delete the original data.zip file that you renamed. Your icons will remain after a hard power cycle.

Can this unit play music while in navigate mode? I was using a garmin nuvi and was really impressed with the ability to pretty much use it as a ipod while navigating around. A comment somewhere in here caused me to think maybe it is unable to play music while navigating. If that is the case has anyone got around that? Thanks in advance for any posts.

PLEASE NOTE:- YOU DO NOT NEED TO INSTALL ANY OF THESE TO HAVE THEM WORK PROPERLY, THEY WILL RUN FROM WHEREVER YOU LAUNCH THEM (except task manager). Also, I like this setup as none of these applications or shortcuts get erased if you do any form of reset, so all mod files on the disk will always be present.- Folder locations for windows solitaire (I moved it to the rest of the games)- Note my folder location for my apps and utils- This layout is for my 720, the 730 can only handle 6 items on screen at once and does not necessarily come with all these applications, mess around to your liking

MUSIC+NAVIGATION/BLUETOOTH:I think all we need to do is launch one program after launching another, either using the start bar, alt-tabbing, writing a script file, or even tweaking a skin (in media player also) to launch the other program. BT and NAV both have buttons to launch the other program, thereby switching amongst them. We've tweaked the skins plenty, add a shortcut to media and we'd be SET! (may need a button back from media player, or even just minimize)

--UPDATE AND SOLUTION TO MUSIC+ETC:Research:Okay so I don't know why this solution wasn't spread but someone mentioned TCPMP, a media player for WINCE. After downloading like 20 different files, I found out that my nav is an ARM cpu and that I should be using the ARM cab files. I have been using the CE3 files as they seem to claim to be compatible with the latest versions of CE. NC was right, the built-in media player does not let you minize or work with any other application, so using this one instead fixed that problem. Apparently in fact there are like 3 different variations of the application: TCPMP (no longer updated?), BetaPlayer, CorePlayer (not free?). So cuz of somethings I read I decided to go with the betaplayer. Upon installation I installed it to my flash/storage card and reboot and it seems to work fine without being properly installed.

Current Solution:1. You can check out multiple versions here: http://www.hpcfactor.com/downloads/tcpmp/REMEMBER, you need the ARM.CABS version.2. I downloaded and am trying BetaPlayer 0.5 http://www.hpcfactor.com/ftp-root/software/corecodec/BetaPlayer/0.5/betaplayer.arm.cabs.STABLE.0.5.zip3. Run the cab file like an EXE and install it most likely to one of the cards so that it doesn't get wiped on reboot. It will run fine with just the installed directory (reg keys or whatever don't seem to matter).4. Your done! You can add a link to it into your IGOPATH or ADDONS files if you wish. My line looks like this:BetaPlayer = "", "\\My Flash Disk\\Hacks\\Apps\\BetaPlayer\\player.exe"Note my install directory however and fix yours to accomodate, also if you wish to use the thumbnail for the other media player put "icons/multimedia.bmp" into the empty first set of paranthesis (obviously)

Afterthoughts:-The interface is very small and ugly compared to the normal one, but it DOES have a playlist and does the job VERY well so it's probably better in the end.-I set up a playlist and hit play then I can go into nav/bt and from there jump to it's counterpart, unfortunately you can't go back to the media player without quitting the nav/bt (however I ONCE got bt/music working simultaneously with the startbar along the bottom, no nav, so I was able to freely switch between the 2 programs easily, however I'm having trouble reproducing this) So the way I got the start bar was with that keyboard.exe. It stays on top except for the v7mediaplayer and nav (those it exists but you can't see it, don't mess with that). Open it first and then proceed to open the BT and SYNC FIRST(the address book is another program that again covers the screen) Once open i used the keyboard to ALT-TAB(this also gives me a nifty end-task manager without needing to do an install for that taskmngr.exe utility to work). I then run startbar.exe again and voila, use both BT programs and media player freely while swapping.-I started noticing the windows progress bar in my Nav (and possibly BT) programs when I click on something that loads. I accepted this as normal and fine. Didn't lock up anything and dissappeared when it was supposed to-This solution theoretically will drain your battery very fast and could slow down overall processing (although with a 100 song playlist loaded and using the navigation It wasn't really noticeable so I'm not really worried) because the NAV and media players are resource users working at the same time.-DO NOT PLAY A VIDEO WHILE NAVIGATINGProbably DON'T want to play video while navigating. Dunno why you would, haven't tested it myself and sure it won't hurt anything, but in theory it seems like the processing/battery usage it would suck up is just stupid to even try this. course your modding it, don't listen to me or anything, I haven't tried to.-If I we can write batch files and get some skin customization going, as long as you can either launch another program or run the startbar last (which I suppose isn't needed if you have buttons to the other programs) then we'll be more capable of swapping programs.

So I received my double female USB adapters in the mail and have been working with them in my attempt to get wifi to load up on my nav740. I wrote a browser application in Microsoft Visual Studio and am working to get my nav740 to run drivers associated with SD wifi or USB wifi devices. Currently USB wifi and bluetooth devices will not work (I believe due to a low voltage being sent from the nav740 to the USB device port). They probably created the voltage to be one way, since you generally only use the USB to connect to a computer which supplies the energy demand of the nav740 and running power to the USB device will consume quite a bit of battery. I am planning on using some of the driver dll's packaged with MioPocket to attempt a USB or SD wifi connection. (Possible I could also hack the nav740 to deliver power to the USB wifi device directly, which would allow the user to have the SD card and the wifi available at the same time)

I am glad to see people have made progress with the MioPocket.

NC, I have an extra double female coupler on my desk if you want it.

Also, if anyone is interested in getting a copy of my simple web browser, just let me know. I am pretty sure I could create other simple apps (or db apps) for the nav740 if there is a need.

Hi Everyone,I am a gps newbie, having purchased a Nav740 when in Houston in April. It was great for the 5 days that I was in that area, but I should have done more research, as I got home to Australia, then found out that it is not possible to get maps for Oz. I know, I know... Anyway, just looking to see if anyone has any tips on how to get maps for my part of the world? Otherwise, a virtually unused Nav740 will be up for sale. Last time I checked with V7, they didn't have any plans for maps outside of US, Canada and maybe parts of Europe.thanks,James

my v7 nav 730 runs iGO gps nav and the software + maps/poi are freely downloadable at their site...i have a holux cf gps tranceiver that works in my thinkpad x31 notebook having a cf slot...can I run the software for the v7 on the laptop somehow or what?